I mean I can always short, like GRPN, LNKD, TNA/FAS/FAZ.... but ETFC always reports no shares to borrow.
The answer you seek is right there... ETFC doesn't have access to shares they can borrow, but IB does... Not every broker has a wide inventory of shares.. sometimes you gotta call in and reserve some, or have them check around to see if borrowing can be done.
Yep. Shares, in order to be shorted, need to be borrowed. Larger brokers have more clients to ask for borrowing, or even lend you their own. Makes perfect sense. If you really want to short something but can't borrow it, if you're brave or crazy enough, you can always go for options.
who cares? you short a lot? go with IB. i don't even know what ETFC is..IB is special for retail for many things. including direct access to huge variety of markets,securities and ability to short them too. but their short list is getting smaller..right now average is around 9000 securities. use to be 12K+
your all missin probably the most important reason..........Etrade loans you the shares as long as you want for FREE IB charges you a daily fee so they have a little more motivation Is IB alot bigger outfit than Etrade?????